The present invention relates to footwear, and more particularly to footwear that optionally provides proprioceptive feedback to a wearer's foot.
A variety of footwear exists that cater to the specific needs of a particular user. Sometimes footwear is designed with a particular age group in mind. For example, some footwear are designed for children to assist them in learning to walk, stand, turn and/or climb. Such footwear can be specially constructed for particular age groups of children. For example, pre-school children, ages 2-6 years, generally benefit from footwear that provide natural or complimentary movement of the feet. This allows them to sense—via proprioceptive feedback—the ground, stairs, ladders, bike pedals and varying terrain under their feet. In turn, this provides them with a high level of stability and agility for performing a wide range of activities.
As another example, post pre-school children, ages 6 years and older, as well as adults, also benefit from footwear that provide complimentary movement to allow proprioceptive feedback through the footwear. Such footwear usually aids post pre-school children, as well as adults, in activities including playground activities, rock climbing, wall climbing, balancing, running over varied terrain and the like.
There are a variety of footwear constructions that allegedly enhance proprioceptive feedback to a user's foot. These constructions typically include an upper joined with an outsole. The outsole can be relatively thin so that surface features of the ground underneath can be felt through the outsole to some degree. This type of footwear can include a footbed, which is a piece of cushioning material placed on the interior of the upper generally over the outsole, under a wearer's foot. Many of the constructions including a footbed, however, impair the ability of a child or other user to feel underfoot surface features through the excessive cushioning of the footbed.
In other constructions, the footwear includes a lining disposed in an upper. A firm lasting board is cemented over a bottom piece of the liner. The upper material is pulled to extend completely over the firm lasting board to close the upper. While this effectively closes off the bottom of the footwear, it also adds yet another rigid component (the firm lasting board) immediately under the wearer's foot. In turn, this acts to impair the sensation of forces and features transmitted through the outsole, the lasting board, and the like to the wearer. With this reduced sensation, the user (especially when a child) is not assisted in learning how to walk or otherwise traverse a surface.
Accordingly, there remains room for improvement to provide footwear with an enhanced construction that optionally increases proprioceptive feedback to the wearer.